Notes

Ironic title notwithstanding, this limited edition 7" references the band's beginnings in more ways than one. Few of you may know this, but the single packaging was essentially the same as the packaging for their first single 'The First Big Weekend' - only in negative. Reversing the black and whites of their debut single on this final release seemed like the perfect way to bookend the band's career, gilding the lily by enrolling the skills of Four Tet's Kieran Hebden to remix their cult classic on the B-Side.

Confounding any 'miserablist' preconceptions, There Is No Ending remains a defiantly buoyant epilogue to Arab Strap's career - even if it still remains firmly rooted in life's routinely depressing realities: only Aidan and Malcolm could sign off with an upbeat flourish of brass and warnings about "bullies, burglers, paedophiles, bird flu and passive smoke".

Pointless trivia: Chemikal Underground's very own Andrew Savage (brother of ex-Delgado Paul) gets his first ever credit on a release, providing backing vocals for There Is No Ending's apocalyptic coda...